About 3 p.m., officers found two males injured from stab wounds at Belle Avenue and Garrison Boulevard, near Forest Park High School. One man was pronounced dead at 3:34 p.m. at a local hospital. On Thursday, police identified the victim as 25-year-old Durrell Gaskins of the 4000 block of Belle Ave.

Durrell's father Durant Gaskins said he witnessed the attack, and that Durrell was on his way to work as a mixer at Elite Spice in Jessup when his son saw a commotion among a group of about 30 students walking down Belle Avenue from Forest Park.

Durrell then ran over to the crowd to break up the fight, according to Durant.

"[Durrell] was a protective type of person," said Durant, 59. "He didn't like violence."

When he saw Durrell fall to the ground, Durant rushed to his son's aid.

"I saw him laying on the ground and I went to shield him," he said. "I'm holding him. He looked up at me and said 'Daddy, I don't think I'm going to make it' and fell back.

The other male hurt in the fight was treated and released from the hospital, police said.

Detective Brandon Echevarria confirmed that there was a large group fighting when the stabbing occurred.

At a community police meeting at Morgan State University, police officials told the crowd that a group of high school students were fighting and an adult intervened. Police said a hall monitor had witnessed the fight and called the school instead of police.

Maj. Marc Partee, commander of the Northwestern District, said police were working with school police to prevent any possible additional violence Thursday.

Anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 410-396-2100.

There have been eight killings in the Northwestern District since late September. Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts told Partee at the community meeting that his district "has been on fire for the last two weeks" and commanders said they were finalizing a plan.

A 31-year-old man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Baltimore after he pleaded guilty to possessing 5.9 grams of marijuana won an appeal Wednesday invalidating the plea — raising the possibility that he will be released.